Essay title: The Problem of Evil

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Because god is all-knowing he would know how to how to stop the evil if it ever occurred or even how to create a universe were no evil could exist. So as god is all-loving he would want his creation to not to experience evil or suffering because no one who was loving in the sense in which we use the word would want there creations suffer for no reason if they could stop it, which god could because he is all-powerful. Because of all of this it seems that evil should not exist, but it does.

So either god is not all-powerful or all-loving or he does not exist at all. It is possible to hold that there was a creator god who started the world, but having established the structure had no ongoing influence over it deism or you can take a dualistic view that god is limited by the matter out of which he has created the world.

Augustine expressed the problem or dilemma about suffering in his 'Confessions' CE. Christians believe in a good, all- powerful god so: Either God cannot abolish evil suffering or he will not. If he cannot abolish evil suffering then he is not all-powerful. If he will not abolish evil suffering then he is not all good or all loving. This argument assumes that a good God would eliminate suffering as far as he could. If he is all-powerful, as Christians believe, then he should eliminate all suffering.

Yet evil in the form of suffering exists. The problem for Christians can be summarised as: God is omnipotent all-powerful God is all loving benevolent but evil suffering still exists in the world.

Some people say that evil and suffering are all part of gods master plan to make the universe a perfect place. John Hospes try to defend the existence of evil by saying: The purpose of evil is not to make us happy, but good or virtuous. The world is a moral training ground for the building of character. Evils are put there to discipline and improve us rather than to punish us. In this part of the essay I m going to outline two solutions or answers to the problems for religious believers raised in section A.

Although things fall from perfection it is not possible for something to become entirely evil, because a complete lack of goodness means non-existence.

He thought that everything changed except god who is immutable because god is already perfect. Augustine thought that matter was intrinsically good. He also though that someone in could not be evil themselves but they could do evil acts so evil is just the absence of goodness not as force in its self. He pointed out that Satan was not the cause of all evil but is just the catalyst, the evil was already in Adam and Eve it was just Satan who started it off.

Augustine held that the story of Adam and Eve was historical fact. He acknowledges the fact that everyone does things that are wrong and it caused by original sin, which is passed on by sex. Augustine though that god was all-knowing and all-loving. Everyone commits sins the reason for this is original sin. There must be a judgment when you die. So on the day of judgement some will go to heaven some will go to hell.

Because god is all knowing he knew already were you are destined to go. Meaning that your fate is predetermined. God cannot be blamed for the creation of evil because evil is not a thing in its self but just a deprivation off goodness. Evil however comes from the angels and humans who have become corrupted over time because they changed in some way. The chance that evil may exists in the universe is necessary because only god as the creator can be completely perfect.

Everyone is equally guilty for the evil in the world because everyone helps to spread it and we were all seminally present in Adam. And so because of this everyone deserves to be punished. Natural evil is a just punishment because people destroyed the natural cycle. Therefore god should not have to help us or remove evil from the world because we started it. Because god saves some people and allows them into heaven shows that he is loving and us. Is it right that someone who may murder a million people get the same punishment as person who killed one?

Augustine says that the world was made perfect by god an damaged by humans this contradicts, evolutionary theories state that we have evolved from an earlier state of chaos.

So then idea of everything being perfect from the start is hard to accept because of this. Augustine states that every person was seminally present in Adam.

This goes against biological laws and would be deemed untrue today and so god is not just in punishing. Now I am going to look at a different theodicy, that of Irenaeus. Irenaeus thought that evil was linked with the free will of humanity were he differs from Augustine is that he admits that god did not make a perfect world.

Therefore, the term faith, which could be said to mean believing without any physical evidence, would be the main hold of the theodicist argument. Anti-theodicists would claim that this argument is invalid and unsubstantiated because a God who is wholly good would not create or allow for any evil whether moral or natural to exist.

As the sides of both Leibniz and Mackie are presented, these matters will be discussed more thoroughly. The main point of Leibniz's philosophy is that God, in creating the world, He created the best of all possible worlds. Leibniz denies the premises 1 whoever does not choose the best is lacking in power, knowledge, or goodness 2 God did not choose the best in creating the world 3 Therefore, God has been lacking in power, knowledge, or goodness.

Leibniz's argument is one of optimism. He did not argue the perfection of the world or that evil was non-existent, but his argument was merely positively looking at the world created and relating that to God's goodness, omnipotence, and His constant concern with His creation. His argument was optimistically pointing to being able to see God's Divine plan in its totality and not judging by solitary parts.

This theory may be attractive to many because it answered a profound philosophical question: Leibniz argues that "God has permitted evil in order to bring about good, that is, a greater good. On the other hand, Mackie argues saying, "In its simplest form the problem is this: God is omnipotent; God is wholly good; and yet evil exists. From these it follows that 3 a good omnipotent thing eliminates evil completely and then the proposition that 4 a good omnipotent thing exists, and that evil exists, are incompatible.

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The Problem of Evil - In his essay “Why God Allows Evil” Swinburne argues that the existence of evil in the world is consistent with the existence of all-knowing, all-powerful and all-good God. To start, Swinburne bases his argument on two basic types of evil: moral and natural.

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Thus, the problem of evil leads to a contradiction in at least one, if not all, of the attributes of God (that being omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent). In his essay, Mackie examines what he calls “so-called” solutions to the problem: evil being a necessary counterpart to good, the universe being better off with some evil, evil acting as a means to good, and evil being the result of human free will.

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Explain The Problem of Evil - Essay In this essay I am going to examine the problem of evil. I will split it into two main parts; the problems raised for a religious believer by the existence of evil and the solution or answer to these problems. The Problem Of Evil Cannot Be Solved Philosophy Essay. Evil is a problem, not because there is evil in the world or that there is so much of it in the world. The problem is not found in the lack of balance between good and evil in the world.

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Mar 08, · The Problem of Evil Disproved by the Free Will Defense The Problem of Evil states that because evil exists the existence of a tri-omni being, which we typically refer to as God, is impossible. This argument, if proved to be true, would refute the Cosmological Argument for God’s Existence. Essay on The Problem of Evil - The problem of evil is the notion that, how can an all-good, all-powerful, all-loving God exists when evil seems to exist also. The problem of evil also gives way to the notion that if hell exists then God must be evil for sending anyone there.